black squirrels

Eric R. Hugo (e_hugo at dsu1.dsu.nodak.edu) wrote:
:mathog at seqvax.caltech.edu (David Mathog) wrote:
: >
: >Each Christmas we travel to my wife's parents' house in San Jose, CA.
: >There are a lot of old trees in that neighborhood, and many many squirrels.
: >I vaguely recall my in-laws mentioning several years ago that there was a
: >black squirrel about, two years ago I saw one, and this year they appeared
: >to make up about half of the squirrel population. The "normal" squirrels
: >are grey, but the black ones are a very dark coal-black color. In
: >addition, and this is based on just watching them - no measurements, the
: >black ones are slightly smaller, and their tails are slightly less bushy...
: There is a black variety (melanistic color phase) known in the Eastern Gray
: Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) that is common in some parts of its range.
: I've seen these critters in Ontario, Canada (Bruce Penn. area)
: and I think in Michigan.
: Eric
: Eric
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I've only see one black squirrel ever that I recall, and I've seen it
twice while bike riding in a suburb of Columbus Ohio this summer.
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